Unbound Deathlord_Obliteration
Page 44
I saw a resplendent tome lying open on a table, revealing graceful golden letters on its snow-white pages.
"Following the Ways has ensured our survival and given us purpose throughout all the ages of our history. But with the coming of the Age of Travelers, the gods have turned a blind eye to transgressors. Worse still, the other races of the Underworld have abandoned their duties, some have even joined the drow with the intent of conquering the Underworld."
The book slowly faded away and I once again saw the assembled Drow Corps and the specter army all around us.
"For the Devourer! For Valia!" The other drow raised their hands and repeated the war cry.
The specters around us looked at us as if we were crazy, and as I noticed the fanaticism in the Blackguard leader's eyes, I wondered the same thing.
I remembered the Ruined King's words about bringing the Devourer new children, and wondered if this woman was who they had in mind to be the new leader of the drow.
I smiled at that thought. She might speak like a fanatic, maybe she even believed her little sermon, but she was definitely ambitious, and therefore dangerous.
34. Classic Siege
With the thralls dead, the specters assumed a pentagon formation, and marched towards the city walls.
The Drow Corps kept to the center of the formation, contemplating what had been revealed about the Devourer.
Personally, I loved it. I had been worried about what I would do if my original plan failed, but this was perfect for me. I was already forming new contingency plans.
The army came to a stop outside bowshot and brought the ghost constructs to the front of the formation. They began firing ghostly heads just as they had before, but they were all destroyed in a splash of golden light as they struck some kind of ward over the city.
It was then that I realized that these weren't weapons created to defeat the thralls; the army could have done that, it would've only been a matter of time. Instead, they'd reaped all those souls to use them as magical artillery shells.
The balls of white light that had been used to reveal the Blackguards were placed around the army to prevent a surprise attack. None were revealed, but I was sure they were there, waiting just outside detection range.
Just as the leader finished speaking I received a quest completion notification and a new quest appeared.
Quest completed: Excavate
[Catacombs' Drow Corps]
Attribute point received:
» +1 willpower
Stamina: 640 (+5)
I wondered if this was really a random stat reward, since mining for four days had certainly tested my willpower, both in-game and outside it.
I ignored the little voice reminding me I had given up before Daggers called me and checked the new quest.
Quest: Protect the Specters' Siege Camp
[Catacombs' Drow Corps]
B+ rank
The siege camp outside Ter'nodril must be protected from monsters coming its way for two days.
Conditions:
» No specter can be killed by a monster
» Must be completed without dying
Quests were all well and good, but I had a question: "Why don't we just burn the corpses if they'll attract monsters?" I asked the leader.
She turned to sneer at me. "Because, deathlord, there are hundreds of thousands of bodies here. It would take us far longer than two days to burn them all unless the Kings acted, but they have agreed not to interfere with the war."
It was a good point, but I didn't like her condescending tone. "Makes sense, I guess that's why you're the boss.” I flashed her a thumbs up.
Her glare intensified. Had I just crossed a line? Well, if so, and she expelled me from the army, there was still plan B: Daggers would pretend she had captured me and bring me to the city doors. Who knows, it might even work.
Thankfully, Laureth didn't act on her anger. Instead, we all followed her to the midway point between the corpses and the siege camp.
To our sides I saw people of multiple species appearing, mostly players. The White Tree dudes and their friends who had attacked me were all there too.
They looked at me with obvious disdain. I simply took my helmet off, put my Circlet on, and waited. If eight Blackguards couldn't protect me, the only thing that might make a difference was stronger magic.
Less than half an hour later, the first scavengers appeared. They were monsters I had seen during my first days in Valia: hairless dogs so thin I could see their ribs through their skin.
There were dozens of them, but they didn't enter the the chamber we were in, preferring instead to eat the corpses beyond the breach.
This lasted until a herd of monsters that resembled Velociraptors appeared. They hissed and menaced the dogs until they forced them towards us.
Pack after pack, monsters from giant crickets to flaming birds appeared and swarmed over the bodies. Soon the safer meals had all been consumed, and as the stronger monsters advanced they drove the weaker ones ever nearer.
By the third hour the weaker monsters were cut off from the exit and had been driven away from the macabre buffet by the stronger ones. Having no other options they were sizing us up.
The first monsters to attack were some kind of carnivorous plants that dragged themselves along with leafy tentacles. I killed one with just two firebombs to its grotesque maw.
Monsters continued to come at us, all of them weak. I lobbed a firebomb here or there when my MP was full, in spite of Laureth's constant complaining. "My mana is full!" I finally yelled. "What's the point of keeping it that way? I'd be wasting my mana regeneration!"
She looked furious, but didn't tell me to stop again.
The next five hours were dull as hell, especially because I barely fought. I finally took out my bow, but even so the tanks hardly had to defend themselves, and the fighters spent more time talking than fighting.
For the next ten hours, I worked on my physical abilities. Sword, shield, and arrows; I drew blood with them all. Although I couldn't raise my attributes because of the poisoning, I could still improve my fighting techniques.
Having fulfilled my quota for the day, I went back and logged out near the siege engines rather than where the Drow Corps were. I wasn't about to risk logging back in to find they'd moved and I was surrounded by monsters or enemy players.
* * *
That day, a political bombshell dropped.
Claiming that it was for the good of the world, the UN voted for the NAC to give up control of the Immersive Reality technology. The NAC vetoed it, as was its right, but the fact that even the NACs allies had voted against them was a huge concern.
Every powerful nation had immediately sent their fleets out for “training maneuvers.” It wasn't even a subtle threat. Our military leaders reacted predictably, in an equally threatening posture. The menace
of war loomed large in everyone's minds.
For the first time I truly wondered if I'd made a mistake. I could live with the chaos I'd caused in the country, but none of us would live much longer if this started a damn nuclear war.
But no, I was getting too emotional. There was no way that could happen, right? This was just the hypocritical leaders of the other nations virtue-signaling to look good to the voting public. In reality they were probably just jealous that they hadn't come up with a way to spy on everyone's private thoughts first. Having assured myself of this I went to bed.
And yet, nightmares plagued me and my sleep was fitful. The next morning, I decided to seek out grandfather's council, but he was nowhere to be found and wasn't returning my calls. Pondering the matter with only the information on the news was pointless, only someone in high political office would know what was really going on.
Without anyone else to ask, I put it out of my mind and logged back in.
* * *
The monsters that attacked on the second day were only a little stronger than the ones we had fought yesterday, but I made sure to put in my quota of hours early. The fights may actually become dangerous by the end of the day and I wouldn't risk my life to complete the quest; I didn't give a damn about a few specters losing their lives. The only reason I even helped was that if I didn't, the Corps' leader would kill me.
Nothing interesting happened. My lack of skill in melee combat became ever more apparent as the monsters got stronger. Eventually, I had to fall back and use my bow, since running out of stamina on the front lines would be suicidal.
Just like yesterday, I logged off by the siege engines.
I was still unable to reach Grandfather and I was getting a little tense about the UN situation. I considered leaking information that the governing AI head been patched to prevent mind reading; maybe that would make everyone a little less excited to get their hands on it. True, other software could be developed, but it just so happened that I'd had most of the people familiar with that dark side of the technology killed, meaning it would take years and millions of dollars to even have a chance of recreating what I'd unmade.
But that might expose David's involvement and through him I would be at greater risk of being caught. I didn't want to act rashly, so for now I would just wait.
The next day, I logged back in at half past six AM, half an hour before the Ter'nodril's defense was expected to fall.
I completely forgot about my real world concerns when the fun began.
I immediately heard and saw monsters attacking the the specter tanks which ringed the siege camp. Most of the people who'd been defending the camp yesterday were either dead or inside the camp now.
A gigantic tentacle monster easily bypassed the defensive lines and grabbed a specter archer, crushing it to an ectoplasmic pulp and throwing it away before grabbing another.
Three-headed dogs made of black flames had chewed through the tanks in the first row and were now working on the second.
A pair of emerald colored scorpions the size of bears were killing tanks in a single blow, their tails ignoring both shields and armor alike.
Quest failed: Protect the Specters' Siege Camp
[Catacombs' Drow Corps]
Receiving no new quest after failing that one was a blessing.
The whole camp was on the verge of being overrun, I could either try to help or hide. The choice was obvious: I hid.
There was no reason for me to attract the aggro of the monsters by dealing damage to them. If the specters couldn't even survive this little attack, they would be massacred by the drow.
As if reading my thoughts, all the specters made way for one of them to pass.
It was a ghost of a type I hadn't seen before: its body was humanoid and completely covered by eyes of all colors and types, from red to blue, from human to fish. It floated onwards with no apparent hurry.
While I looked, I noticed all the specters were turning their backs to that being. I was about to do the same when one of its cat eyes locked gazes with me.
Then there was only darkness.
I found myself in a completely black void, I couldn't even tell if I had a body. All game elements had been removed from my vision, except for a white message floating ahead of me:
Your character has been disabled by a mental attack.
Just like that, a single look from a single eye was enough to disable my character without any chance for me to resist.
Prior to this, I had thought I was fairly strong. Even if I had kind of abused a stupid game mechanic to conquer the castle, I had still conquered it. My intellect had triumphed over all the advantages the game had given the minotaurs in that fight; I felt confident, that I could overcome any other challenges the same way.
Now I realized, all my planning and clever tricks meant nothing in the face of something with truly overwhelming power. That thing had defeated me with a casual glance, I'd never had a chance. If it had been an enemy, I would already be dead.
I wondered about Oxfiend. He had said his power had been limited by his agreement with the god Edward. How powerful was he now that he wasn't bound by that agreement?
Damn, what about Manhart? The lich had said that no one in the Catacombs except for the Ruined Mage Kings were a threat to him. Was he stronger than this Eye Creature?
When I wondered about the time, the internal clock appeared, with nothing to do I spent the next ten minutes staring at it while I contemplated my plans, both in game and real life. Finally I was returned to my character's body.
Daggers was the first thing I saw. She was right beside me, weapons drawn. I didn't see any danger near us, but I was sure she knew what she was doing. I invited her to the party before I even took a look around.
The second thing I noticed was the silence. It had been a cacophony of battle and roaring monsters just ten minutes ago, but now you could almost hear a pin drop. I looked around and was only mildly surprised, having expected this after spending ten minutes stunned by a single glance: all the monsters were dead on the ground.
The Eye Creature was floating alone where the defensive lines had been breached, with the pile of monster corpses as a backdrop. It would have looked heroic if it weren't a freakish abomination. The eyes on this side of its body were all closed, and now that I had a chance to take a closer look at it, I realized it was quite frail. As freakishly powerful as it was, I doubted it would do well in melee combat. Not that I could see a good way for anything to get that close to it when it could stun and even kill with just a look.
The camp's defensive lines quickly reformed, and if it wasn't for the specters bodies on the ground, no one would have guessed we had even been attacked.
In the city's direction, the siege engines were still hammering the golden barrier. It was clear they were making progress, as it was covered in a spiderweb of cracks and the ghost heads now strained against the barrier for long seconds before they faded away.
This was a very good sign. She had been a bit annoying since she reunited with the Blackguards, but the fact that she still had my back was a huge relief.
We stared at each other in silence for a lon
g moment. Everything my parents had taught me about managing subordinates told me to simply lie and give an excuse for my actions later.
In politics, there was nothing to be gained by trusting someone with your actual plans. The famous Benjamin Franklin quote said it best: Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
All of this, my actions, my plans, my ploys, weren't ultimately about dominating a game; I was after something bigger. I had a personal vendetta, I wanted and was enacting a justice in which I was judge, jury, and the executioner.
But I had just realized, that as much as I had gone into this with the intent of upending society, I may still get much more than I bargained for.
Daggers had saved my ass multiple times in game, and even called in a favor from her father when we'd thought those soldiers were going to kill me. She would hate me once she realized what I'd done, but until then, I decided I wouldn't betray her trust.
I sighed.
I didn't understand her question.
I was truly shocked. No, not because she was worrying about it, but because I had forgotten to add the stream feeds into the equation. If I had lied to her now, I would have never had the chance to cover it up later if she could simply watch what I did.
Making a decision without properly considering all the variables was... Scary.
When I took a moment to really examine my thought process I came to a startling conclusion: I truly considered her a friend, and as such I had made a decision on the basis of what was best for another person rather than thinking of myself.
"Holy shit," I whispered and looked at Daggers as if seeing her for the first time.